23:53 - Sunny PagliaccioNote to self: Do NOT open links on max volume in the middle of a quiet night. Otherwise, not bad. :D

23:52 - ApothecaryFast food workers planning a strike in support of $15/hour wages next month. I'm a tutor in a reading lab at a college and I don't even make that much, a bit of an overestimation of one's importance, don'tcha think?

All members are from Inner Mongolia. All lyrics are sung in Mongolian. In 2011, some young musicians from Inner Mongolia formed this band in Beijing, after participating in some club shows, especially Anda Music Festival and the inaugural Asian Metal Festival, gaining the respect and self-confidence to continue their music concept.

Nine Treasures all come from small remote counties, where metal music is hard to track down. But fate was on their side and somehow made them discover its charm. Like all juvenile musicians, they began form bands and copy their favorite bands. Afterwards Nine Treasures were formed on September 9th, 2011 with their newly-developed genre, a mix of merry Mongolian folk songs and midtempo metal, combining the soulful moriin huur and delightful balalaika melodies with the ingredients of traditional Mongolian folk music.

Hollow Haze formed in 2003 by Nick Savio with the idea to put together a new original "hard & heavy" sound.

After some sessions at Remaster Studio, the soul of the band was strongly outlined and just a fews months later the first outset album Hollow Haze was released. At the end of 2008 the band signed for Crash & Burn Records…

The second album The Hanged Man got a great response from magazine and hard and heavy web sites. A great step ahead for the band. With a great production Hollow Haze outlined once and for all their "big heavy dark" sound. The official videoclip of "Coming From Hell" was released on December.

Pombagira was formed in 2007 out of desire to reset the controls for the heart of the heavy by Peter Hamilton-Giles and Carolyn Hamilton-Giles. Initially formed as a two piece the band did eventually gain a bass player, but it was only on their second album that a third member was featured. Having set out as a more typical doom/sludge band, Pombagira across the course of their five albums have turned their attention to exploring the psychedelic in musical composition.

This was realised the most in their most recent release Maleficia Lamiah which received across the board praise for its innovative approach. This moved them away for just being notorious for their sheer volume - using a backline not dissimilar in stature to Sunn O))). Although this may not necessary be the complete emphasis for the band, they continue to be one of the loudest and most oppressive bands to witness live, however this has been coloured by incorporating a psych-o-delic light show.

Hel was founded in the year 1994 by Valdr, and belongs to one of the first German Metal bands dealing with mythologic themes in their lyrics and music. In 1997 Skaldir joined Hel and after two demos, the first album Orloeg was released in 1999. Unlike other bands Hel always took a lot of time between all releases and didn't care for any commercial trends and movements. 2004 the 10' Album Pagan Midgard Art was Hel's first release after a long time.

Following in 2005 was Finland Vörandi which is up to now Hel most complex and time-consuming album. It's a concept album that deals with The death of Balder.

In the end of 2008, after leaving his previous band Helrunar, songwriter and guitar-player Dionysos formed the German black metal band Under That Spell by including Sin on bass (also known as a live member of Helrunar), Abyss on vocals and Euphorion on battery.

The concept leading to the band's name relates to the weak spirits of nowadays society and modern life in general. Intended in a hateful but also philosophical manner, Under That Spell combines the traditional and atmospheric style of the early 90's with rather modern elements, to express their own interpretation of what black metal is today.

The first band Uwe Groebel founded was NAEVUS from 1991 to 1999 playing guitars and providing vocals. In beginning, it sounded more like a slow death-metal band in the vein of Anathema/ My Dying Bride/ Asphyx and developed more and more into this rock/doom, greatly influenced by Black Sabbath. Naevus recorded three demos including the last demo "Autumn Sun" in 1996 before signing a deal with Lee Dorrians´ Rise Above Records in London, England.

The debut album was recorded in 1997, seeing a release in 1998. In 1999, they were released from the label due to lack of funds and a change in distribution, so the band decided to split in May that year. The two other members from Naevus, Mathias Straub plays in Sacred Steel, Oliver Grosshans now plays in My Darkest Hate. After the demise of Naevus, Uwe formed VOODOOSHOCK, enlisting various drummers and bass players until the first Voodooshock demo was recorded in 2000 with Matze Siffermann and Oli Merkle from End of Green. They were asked to do a Samit Vitus cover - so they recorded the demo. The song they used was "PATRA" from the "V" album.

The sound composition is being developed in order to destroy social attitudes, to cause the state of discomfort, to encourage cognitive dissonance and self-destruction. In the morale of painful cracks we are made to destroy and in this way to create; we are drawing our coat of arms on the screens of social cliches and looking beyond the self- imposed boundaries, drowned in cynicism because of god-fearing desire to come into contact with decency. This is our Renaissance and illuminance - your judgement.

There are tons of stories to be told about Cursed 13 but I reckon you either have heard them before or you just don't give a rats ass about some old shit anyway. So let's stick to the basics. Cursed 13 was born back in '98 and as the case mostly is, not much was recorded back in the early days except for rehersal tapes and that kind of shit. I was busy with Diabolic Lust up until '03 when that band more or less disbanded. I ended up in the slammer for a while and in late '05 Winterreich Productions released that old "I Love Cyanide" cassette which was the first Cursed 13 release to actually be distributed in more than 50 or so copies. Happy fucking days...

Spartan Warrior were formed in 1980 from the ashes of Wearside Rock Band Deceiver. Founding members Gordon Webster (Drums) Tom Spencer (Bass) and Dave Wilkinson (Vocals) were joined by guitarists Neil Wilkinson and John Stormont for what was to be the first true Spartan Warrior line up.

The band recorded two songs (Easy Prey and Steel n Chains ) on the Guardian Label which were featured in 1983 on the Pure Overkill compilation album. These recordings became the cornerstone for the subsequent release of the band's first album Steel n Chains which was released on the Guardian Label that same year. By the time the band came to record Steel n Chains John Stormont took up position as guitarist with The Jess Cox Band and went on to join Battleaxe.

Semlah hails from Stockholm, Sweden and was formed in 2001 by ex Count Raven bass-player Wilbur together with six-string guitar wizard Thomas Johnson. After adds on the internet and the following auditions they found Johannes Bergh a powerhouse drummer and Joleni with clean, classic soaring vocals, an epic power doom juggernaut was born.

Semlah, named after a seasonal pastry or an ancient siege-ladder, depending on which story you want to believe, have been mostly doing gigs around Sweden but even a few festivals in Europe, for instance Doom Shall Rise, in Germany, and Belgian Doom Night.

It all started in the year 2007 when two metaloholics Jöe Anus and his cousin Agent Stavröz decided to start a band. It was very easy to find a drummer because one of Jöe's best friends was a drummer. And that's how Speedfreak Frey got involved with the band.

After a year of just jamming, drinking and covering, we found a bassist. Steve Tomsin joined the band and from that moment they decided to call it Evil Invaders. They had their first gig in January 2009. But after all the gigs done in 2009 they kicked Tomsin out because he was a total poser and they couldn't count on him.

The first album Keep It All Turning was released in late 1993. Shortly after the release both guitarists left the band and were replaced by Victor Smolski. The next album Schizophenia was released in the summer of 1995. In 1996 Mario LeMole decided to focus more on his singing and hired bassist Jan Michael Keller and later keyboarder Andreas Dirksmeier. In late 1996, after playing various shows in Germany, the band went on a Europe tour as support band for Vicious Rumors.

The history started 11 years ago in 1993, when after the break-up of their original bands Astek and Demon decided to create together something new. The specifics of the place where they grew up, the burden of their personal, often very harsh and painful experiences, their great knowledge of heavy music, founded by the monumental achievements of the greatest creators of the violent metal bloodshed - Slayer and Morbid Angel, and the apostles of the boiling hardcore adrenaline - Suicidal Tendencies, Cro-Mags, Agnostic Front, Warzone - all of this caused the future path of the band to approach the more and more perfect and fulfilled marriage of metal and hardcore - FRONTSIDE, as one of the first bands in Poland, started to play crossover...

Armenia Sarkissian is a singer, songwriter, composer, and orchestrator, living in Toronto. Performing since the age of 10, and composing since the age of 8, Armenia has become a seasoned performer by the age of 21. Her performance styles and training range from classical, middle eastern, metal, jazz, bossa nova, and musical theatre.

Categorized as a high spinto soprano, Armenia has a warm and dark timbre, which spans over 3 octaves, giving her ease in high registers but fullness in her lower range. Armenia has just released her first original symphonic metal album, Lopsided Moon, which embodies the hybridity she seeks in all aspects of her musical identity - lush and captivating melodies (inspired by Armenian folk music) soaring overtop epic symphonic orchestrations and heavy power metal.